Well, dear readers, this week is flying by, like a gazelle eating a radish covered in horseradish, whilst a horse is eating a radish covered in gazelleradish. I gotta tell you. I am sitting here like so much fish after a day. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, yesterday WAS a day. It was also a night.
It began like any other day with me getting out of bed. I thankfully got a little over eight hours of sleep. While my voice is still feeling trashed I will say that all this allergy phlegm was really breaking up for the first four hours of the day, perhaps due to taking a Mucinex-D before bed. I really kept quiet – only a couple of brief telephonic conversations – I don’t think I spoke for more than fifteen minutes the entire day and evening, which is good. If I keep doing that, I should be okay by the weekend, which is my hope.
Once up, I did all the usual morning things, then moseyed on over to Jerry’s Deli and had some chicken tenders and a side Caesar salad, both okay. Then I picked up some packages, after which I came home. I then spent some hours listening to more delightful Delius, a powerhouse performance of the Tchaikovsky sixth by Ferenc Fricsay, who is quickly becoming a favorite conductor. Unfortunately, the CD had a little scratch that precluded the second movement from fully loading, so it’s going back and will be replaced. I also listened to the last of the Pete Jolly AVA albums, Hello, Jolly – this one has an orchestra and it’s quite good. I also listened to another great Wes Montgomery CD, Road Song. I did have a lovely birthday conversation for about seven minutes with our very own Richard Sherman – he was having a nice birthday and I passed all of your wishes on to him.
I proofed the last of the charts, just a one-note correction and then he actually got the track done – I asked for a slightly bigger sound in an instrumental section, he did it, and now all the songs are done, with only a couple of transitions left and those are pulled from the existing opening number track. And I asked for a bigger ending to the eleven o’clock number and we talked through that. So, I’ll definitely have all the tracks needed for our private reading next week. We’re still looking for one actress and I think I’ll just find someone to ask. Then I finally sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a new Blu and Ray of Jack the Giant Killer, a movie that completely rips off The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad right down to casting two of that film’s leads, Kerwin Matthews and Torin Thatcher. The movie also just rips off most of Ray Harryhausen’s brilliance, but not nearly as good. It’s pretty shameful, but it has some entertaining moments. The one person they should have gotten, composer Bernard Herrmann, they didn’t. He would have elevated it a little, and certainly a lot more than the pretty horrible score by Paul Sawtell and Bert Shefter. The transfer is decent with good color, but all the effects stuff doesn’t look very good.
Then I watched a bit of the other version included on the disc – a musical in which they took the same film, manipulated it, wrote some truly hideous things (wouldn’t call them songs) and voila, a musical. I first saw that version on cable in the early 80s and laughed my butt cheeks right off the couch. The music is by Moose Charlap, who certainly knows how to write a tune, but the horrible lyrics are by Sandy Stewart – she was a very good singer and sings on the track here, but her lyrics are really elementary school level – one wonders how she got that gig – one wonders until one realizes she was married to Moose Charlap. Then one doesn’t wonder anymore. The image on that transfer is much worse because of all the optical manipulation that had to be done to make it a “musical.” For comedy, I recommend that version highly.
After that, I relaxed, took a hot shower, and began playing all the Jacques Loussier Play Bach CDs straight through and man are they great. I also approved a master and got notice that it looks like Advise and Consent is finally at the Sony pressing plant, so that should be here in a week or two, and the Alan Jay Lerner album should ship early next week. Then we’ll announce the new CD at some point that week. I also listened to all the tracks straight through – one irritating thing that happens in iTunes – when you double click on the track so start it, it comes in a beat or two late – I have to figure out how to have that not happen. If anyone knows the secret let me know please.
Today, I have no plans other than doing Kritzerland show stuff – still waiting on an answer from a guy, and still need at least one more gal. I’ll eat, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll continue resting my voice and relaxing and I’m sure I’ll listen to more music.
The rest of the week is more of the same and then I attend an opening night on Friday, work with a couple of actors for our reading on Saturday, just working out some dialogue timing things with the tracks so everything times out right for our reading.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do Kritzerland show stuff, eat, hopefully pick up packages, rest my voice, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Ask BK Day, the day in which you get to ask me or any dear reader any old question you like and we get to give any old answer we like. So, let’s have loads of lovely questions and loads of lovely answers and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy that yesterday was a day like any other.